South East Plan to be abolished

The South East Plan, which said 11,000 houses should be built in Wealden in the years to 2026, is to be abolished.

Wealden Council has welcomed an announcement that decision-making powers on housing and planning will be returned to local communities.

The council has received a letter from communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles highlighting the Government’s plans to abolish Regional Spatial Strategies.

The letter goes on to say decisions on housing supply (including the provision of travellers sites) will rest with local planning authorities without the framework of regional numbers and plans.

The Secretary of State has said that councils and the Planning Inspectorate should have regard to his letter as a material planning consideration and that he intends to make a formal announcement on this matter very soon.

Cllr Roy Galley, Wealden’s Cabinet member for Planning and Development, said: “We are delighted with this announcement from the Secretary of State as we have very strongly been opposed to the South East Plan figure of 11,000 houses that were required to be developed within Wealden.

“This council has consistently expressed its objections to such a figure as being unsustainable within a district which has such a high number of environmental constraints and limited infrastructure capacity.”